Automatic fuel burner



March 11, 1941. Q BRIDGEMAN 2,234,550

AUTOMAT I C FUEL BURNER Filed March 11, 1959 2 Sheets-Shet 1 glwc/wtom R.Briigenzan March 1941- R. c. BRIDGEMAN AUTQMATIC FUEL BURNER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 11, 1939 .aBi-"z'dyeman Patented Mar. 11, 1941 Q I 2,234,550

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AUTOMATIC FUEL BURNER Ralph C. Bridgeman, Fresno, Calif., assignor of one-fourth to Ruth Henry, and one-fourth to James E. Henry, both of Santa Monica, Calif.

Application March 11, 1939, Serial No. 261,279

7 Claims. (Cl. 126-52) This invention relates to improvements in gas- Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of eous fuel burners and pertains particularly to a Figure 1. novel automatic gas burner. 1 Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of The primary object of the present invention is Figure 2. 5 to provide an automatic gas burner wherein Figures 5 and 6 represent cross sectional views 5 means is provided whereby the burner will be of the automatic fuel control valve, which views automatically turned on and ignited when a reare taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 4 and illusceptacle is placed thereover and turned off when trate respectively the full flow position and the the receptacle is removed, thus eliminating the fuel reduced flow position for this unit.

use of manually operable valves for controlling Figure 7 is a sectional view on the line 8-8 of the flow of fuel to the burner. Figure 4. Another object of the invention is to provide Figure Sis a bottom plan view of the burner in an automatic gas burner of the above decylinder. scribed character, a novel means for lowering the Figure 9 is a sectional view on the line 9-9 of flame of the burner or for checking the flow of Figure 3. fuel to the burner after the same has been turned Referring now more particularly to the drawon full by the placing of a receptacle thereover. ings, the numeral I generally designates a hous- Still another object of the invention is to proing or casing structure for the fuel burner emvide an automatic gas burner wherein there is bodying the present invention, the top wall of 20 employed an auxiliary receptacle supporting which structure is indicated by the numeral 2 grate which is movable relative to a fixed grate and has therein the opening 3 in which is placed and which normally maintains a raised position a fixed grate 4 of the usual well known type. With respect 0 the fixed e, n W h p sit n Within the housing a suitable supporting means the flow of fuel to the burner is shut off but. is is disposed which is here shown as being in the automatically turned on when the auxiliary or form of the crossed arms 5 which are joined at shiftable grate is moved by the application of a their ends to the wall of the housing and at the weighted object thereto such as by placing a pan central part of the housing there is disposed veror other receptacle thereon. tically upon these crossed arms a burner cylin- A still further object of the invention is to proder 6, the lower end of which has a wall 1 which 3 vide a novel valve control mechanism by means extends inwardly to the vertically disposed tube of which the automatic turning on and lighting 8 which passes upwardly on the longitudinal cenof the burner is accomplished when a receptacle ter of the cylinder 6, as S wn in u e The is placed upon the movable grate and whereby upper end of the cylinder 6 is outwardly flared the flow of fuel is shut ofi when the receptacle is and terminates in the upwardly extending flange 3 removed and the movable grate shifts to its 9 which is notched along its edge, as indicated at former position. l0, and resting upon the upper end of the tube 8 The invention will be best understood from a is a slightly dished flame spreader plate H, the consideration of the following detailed descripperiphery of which is in slightly spaced relation tion taken in connection with the accompanying with the notched edge of the cylinder flange 9Q 40 drawings forming part of this specification, with This plate also has fuel escape apertures 12 the understanding, however, that the invention is therethrough and a central aperture through not to be confined to any strict conformity with 'which passes a screw l3 which engages a spider th showing of the drawings but may be changed It in the tube 8 to maintain the spreader plate or modified so long as such changes or modificafirmly in position upon the top end of the tube. 45 tions mark no material departure from the The cylindrical area l5 between the cylinder 6 salient features of the invention as expressed in and tube 8 forms a fuel passageway from the inthe appended claims. let coupling l6 which connects with the lower In the drawings I end of the cylinder and has one end of the fuel Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a conducting pipe I! connected therewith.- 50 stove casing showing, partly in side elevation and Encircling the cylinder 6 is a collar l8 which is partly in vertical section therein, the automatic adapted to slide vertically on the cylinder. Segas burner embodying the present invention. cured to this collar is a series of upwardly ex- Figure 2 is ahorizontal'section on the line 2--2 tending rods l9, which pass through the fixed of Figure 1. grate 4 and'terminate in the laterally directed 55 arms 22. These arms extend radially with respect to the cylinder to which they are slidably coupled and together form a vertically shiftable or auxiliary grate.

Attached to the collar 18 and extending radially outwardly therefrom are tension screw carrying arms 2|, each of which has threadably extended therethrough at its outer end the spring tension screw 22 which engages the upper end of any underlying vertically disposed helical spring 23 which is supported upon an underlying arm 5. These springs cooperate to constantly urge the collar IE to its uppermost position on the burner cylinder and the degree of pressure required to force the collar and auxiliary grate downwardly is controlled by the tension of the screws 22 upon the springs. By this means the springs may be adjusted so that the burnerwill operate automatically for a light pan as well as a heavy one.

Adjacent the lower end of the cylinder 6 there is a valve unit, which is indicated generally by the numeral 24. This valve may be of any suitable type which can be actuated through the medium of a rotary stem, such as is shown extending from one end thereof and indicated by the numeral 25. For example, the valve may be of the usual rotary plug type wherein the turning of the stem 25 to one position would shut off the flow of fuel from the fuel inlet 26 to the fuel outlet pipe 21 while its rotation to a second position would permit such fuel to flow through the valve into the pipe 21 by which it is carried upwardly to an auxiliary valve, which is indicated generally by the numeral 28.

The auxiliary valve 28 is illustrated in detail in Figures 4 to '7 inclusive and, as shown, it comprises a cylinder casing 29 to one end of which is secured an air inlet unit 30 through which air passesto and through the coupling 3| into the pipe H which is joined to the coupling. The coupling 3! receives gaseous fuel, as hereinafter described, and in passing through to the pipe I! draws in air through the air valve 38 for admixture with the fuel so that it will burn properly. At the other end of the auxiliary valve cylinder 29 from the air valve 39, a packing gland 32 is located which forms a part of the casing and through which passes the rotary control stem 33 for the rotary plug body 34 which is disposed within the casing. This plug body 34 is of materially less length than the interior length of the casing 29 so that there is formed the fuel receiving chamber 35 at one end of the easing, into which chamber the pipe 21 opens. The plug 34 is hollow to form the fuel chamber 36 and opens at the end adjacent the chamber 35 to receive fuel from this chamber, the stem 33 being connected with the open end of the plug by the cross arms 3'1, as shown in Figure '7.

The casing 29 has two fuel outlet ports 38 and 39, the port 38 being of materially greater size than the port 39 and connected with the port 38 is one end of a fuel pipe 49 which has its other end connected with the coupling 3| so that fuel may pass therethrough to the pipe I! which leads into the fuel chamber l5.

Connected with the smaller port 39 of the auxiliary valve casing, is a small pipe 4! which leads into the adjacent large fuel pipe 49, as shown in Figure 1.

The rotary plug 34 of the auxiliary control valve also has two ports 42 and 43 which correspond respectively with the ports 38 and 39. These ports 42 and 43 are so spaced that when the larger port 42 is in communication with the port 38, the smaller port 43 will be between the ports 38 and 39, as shown in Figure 5, and when the smaller port is in communication with the small pipe 4|, the larger port will be between the ports 38 and 39, as shown in Figure 6.

Secured to the lower part of the cylinder 6 adjacent to the rotary stem for the valve 24, is an arm 44 which terminates in a guide 45 which is vertically disposed, as shown in Figure 1. This arm extends across the outer end of the stem 25 and is provided with a suitable aperture to rotatably support the stem and at the side of the guide 45 adjacent which the arm connects, an

opening is formed in the guide, as indicated at 46 in Figure 3, for the reception of a gear pinion 41 which is secured to the stem 25. The stem 33 of the auxiliary fuel valve 28 lies above the stem 25 and is supported in a bearing bracket 43 which extends upwardly from the guide 45.

Slidably disposed in the guide 45 is a rack bar 58 which has the gear teeth 5| extending along the lower portion of the length thereof for toothed engagement with the pinion 41. Extending laterally from the end of the auxiliary valve stem 33 is an actuating lever 49 and disposed beneath this lever is an arm 52 which terminates in the upwardly directed portion 52 and this portion has its upper end notched or forked, as indicated at 52". The fork 52 lies directly beneath and in the plane'of the actuating lever 49 so that when the rack bar 50 is raised, as hereinafter described, the upturned end of the arm 52 will engage the lever 49 to rotate the auxiliary valve stem 33 to turn the auxiliary valve to the position shown in Figure5, that is, to the position where a full flow of fuel will pass through the auxiliary valve to the pipes 40 and H.

The upper end of the rack bar 59 is secured, as shown in Figure 1, to an end of an arm 53 which is secured to and extends outwardly from the collar I8. Thus, it will be seen that when the collar is shifted on the cylinder, the rack bar will be vertically shifted also to effect the rotation of the valve stems 25 and 33.

The auxiliary valve stem 33 has secured thereto an actuating finger 54 which is adapted to be engaged, under certain conditions of operation of the burner, by the inner end of a push rod 55 which is mounted in a suitable guide 56 to extend through the front wall of the casing l. The outer end of this stem carries a head 51 between which and the adjacent casing wall is a spring 58 which normally urges the stem to move outwardly away from the finger 54.

The position of the auxiliary grate and the other parts is as shown in Figure 1 when no receptacle is resting on the auxiliary grate. In other words, the auxiliary grate normally maintains a raised position above the fixed grate 4, being urged to this position by the supporting springs 23. When in this position the main valve stem 25 will be turned by the rack bar 50 to the closed position for the valve 24 and the actuating lever 49 will be engaged in the fork 52 and raised so that the auxiliary valve stem will be turned to the position where this valve will be fully opened, as shown in Figure5; Also, the control finger 54 will be disposed vertically, as illustrated in Figure'3. Thus the lower valve will be closed off and the upper valve. will be fully opened. v v

When the auxiliary grate is forced down as by the placing of a receptacle thereon,- the collar 18 will be forced down against the tension of the springs 23 and this will move the rack bar down to rotate th gear 4'! to turn the valve 24 to fully opened position. It will be apparent that with this action, the actuating arm 52 will move down away from the actuating lever 49. Thus, both valves will be open for the full flow of fuel through to the burner where it may be ignited by the pilot frame which is burning over the main burner and is supplied with fuel by the pipe 59. The lever 49 will be freed for oscillatory movement since the forked upturned end of the arm 52 has been moved down and away from it. As the fuel flows through the valves to the pipe 40 and through the connection 3! to the pipe I! the air necessary for its pro-per combustion will be drawn in through the air valve 39 .to mix therewith.

If it is desired to lower the flame at the burner head after lighting the burner in the manner described, this may be accomplished by pushing in on the rod 55 against the finger 54, as shown in Figure 6, to oscillate the auxiliary valve to the position shown in this figure, where the large port 42 will be closed and the small port 43 will be in register with the pipe 4| leading from the port 39 of the valve casing. Thus, it will be seen that with the present device no manual control is required for opening or closing the gas supso ply line as this is accomplished by the movement of the auxiliary grate which supports articles over the flame.

When the receptacle or other object is removed from the auxiliary grate so that the grate is per,- mitted to be moved upwardly by the springs 23 to its former position, the rack bar gear teeth will rotate the gear 47 and the main valve stem so as to close the main valve, thus shutting off the supply of fuel. If the auxiliary valve has been actuated by the rod 55 so as to reduce the flow of fuel to the burner, then the upturned end of the arm 52 which controls the lever 49, will engage this lever and force the same up so as to rerotate the auxiliary valve stem 33 to its former 7 position where the port 42 will be in communication with the pipe 40 and the small control finger 54 will be returned to vertical position. Naturally, if the auxiliary valve had not been turned to lower the flame, then the arm 52 will merely come back to its former position without turning the stem 33.

I claim:

1. An automatic fuel burner of the character described having a vertical lower portion, comprising a burner head, a collar carried by and vertically movable on said portion, a grate member supported by said collar for movement relative to the burner head, a fuel line leading to said burner head, a valve in said fuel line including a control stem, means coupling said valve control stem with said collar whereby movement of the grate and the collar in one direction will effect the turning of the stem and opening of the valve and reverse movement will reversely turn the stem to effect the closing of the valve, manually operated means between the valve and burner for reducing the fiow of fuel through said fuel line to the burner head, and means operating by and upon the return movement of the grate supporting collar to the valve closed position for restoring the manually operated means to permit the full flow of fuel through the line when said valve is again opened.

2. An automatic fuel burner of the character described, comprising a burner head, means for control valve including a rotary stem and having a pair of discharge ports either of which may be selectively opened by rotation of the stem to effect a full or reduced flow of fuel to the burner head, a lever carried by said control stem, a second valve in said fuel line in advance of the first valve, said lever having a normal position in which one of said ports is open for the full flow of fuel therethrough and a second position in which the other port is open for the reduced flow of fuel therethrough, an operative connection between the grate supporting means and said second valve whereby movement of said supporting means in one direction will effect the opening of the second valve and movement of the supporting means in the opposite direction will effect the closing of thesecond valve, manual means facilitating the turning of the first valve to the fuel reduced flow position of said lever, and means carried by said operative connection for engaging the said lever to turn the same to normal position from the reduced fuel flow position when said operative connection is moved for effecting the closing of the second valve.

3. An automatic fuel burner of the character described, comprising a burner head, means for conducting fuel to said burner head, a vertically movable grate disposed above the burner head, vertically shiftable supporting means for the grate, resilient means normally urging the grate supporting means upwardly to a normal raised position, a main control valve in said fuel conducting means, said control valve having a rotary stem, an auxiliary control valve in said fuel conducting means between the main valve and the burner head, said auxiliary valve having a rotary stem, a lever carried by the auxiliary valve stem, an arm carried by the auxiliary valve stem, said auxiliary valve having a normal fully opened position and a reduced fuel flow position, a vertically reciprocable member connected With the grate supporting means to be moved therewith, means coupling said member with the main valve stem whereby downward movement of the grate supporting means will effect the rotation of the valve stem to open the main valve and reverse movement of the supporting means will effect the closing of the main valve, an arm carried by said member and adapted to engage the auxiliary valve stem carried lever when the auxiliary valve has been turned to fuel reduced flow position to return the auxiliary valve to normal position when the grate supporting means is raised, and manual means for engaging the arm of the auxiliary valve stem to turn the auxiliary valve to fuel reduced flow position.

4. An automatic fuel burner, including a fixed grate, comprising a gaseous fuel burner, an auxiliary grate, means coupling said auxiliary grate with said burner whereby the auxiliary grate will have vertical rectilinear movement, a fuel line leading to said burner, a main valve in said line including a rotary plug and stem, an auxiliary valve interposed in the line between the main valve and the burner and including a ro-- tary valve body and stem, said auxiliary valve plug having two gas flow ports of different sizes and having a fully opened position employing one port and a partially opened position employing the other port and a partially opened position, a member secured to said auxiliary grate supporting means for vertical rectilinear movement therewith, means coupling said member with the stem of the main valve by which said stem is turned to the fully closed position of the main valve when the auxiliary grate is raised and to the fully opened position when the auxiliary grate is lowered, means carried by said member for vertical rectilinear movement relative to the stem of the auxiliary valve, means carried by the stem of the auxiliary valve for engagement by the second means carried by the member to turn the auxiliary valve stem to the fully opened position of the auxiliary valve when the auxiliary grate is in raised position only, and means for turning the auxiliary valve stem to partially opened position when the auxiliary grate is in lowered position.

5. An automatic fuel burner, including a fixed grate, comprising a gaseous fuel burner, an auxiliary grate, means coupling said auxiliary grate with said burner whereby the auxiliary grate will have vertical rectilinear movement, a fuel line leading tosaid burner, a main valve in said line including a rotary plug and stem, an auxiliary valve interposed in the line between the main valve and the burner and including a rotary valve body and stem, said auxiliary valve having a fully opened position and a partially opened position, a member secured to said auxiliary grate supporting means for rectilinear movement therewith, means coupling said member with the stem of the main valve by which said stem is turned to the fully closed position of the main valve when the auxiliary grate is raised and to the fully opened position when the auxiliary grate is lowered, a pair of finger members carried by the auxiliary valve stem, a finger member carried by said first-mentioned member and adapted to engage one of the pair of finger members when the auxiliary grate is moved to its raised position to turn the auxiliary valve stem to the fully opened position of the auxiliary valve, and means adapted for operative connection with the other one of the pair of fingers to effect rotation of the auxiliary valve stem to partially opened positionof the auxiliary valve when the auxiliary grate and the said first means is lowered.

6. An automatic fuel burner, including a fixed grate, comprising a burner head having a straight vertical supporting portion, a' collar encircling said supporting portion and adapted for vertical rectilinear movement thereon, resilient means normally'urging said collar upwardly, an auxiliary grate carried by the collar and normally maintained by said resilient means raised above the first grate, a fuel line leading to said burner head, a constrol valve in the fuel line having a rotary plug and stem, a pinion carried by said stem, an arm; carried by said collar and projecting laterally therefrom, and a toothed rack carried by the arm and extending downwardly across and having toothed connection with said pinion whereby downward movement of the auxiliary grate will effect turning of the pinion by the rack to effect the opening of the valve.

7. An automatic fuel burner, including a fixed grate, comprising a burner head having a straight vertical supporting portion, a collar encircling said supporting portion and adapted for vertical rectilinear movement thereon, resilient means normally urging said collar upwardly, an auxiliary grate carried by the collar and normally maintained by said resilient means raised above the first grate, a fuel line leading to said burner head, a control valve in the fuel line having a rotary plug and stem, a pinion carried by said stem, an arm carried by said collar and projecting laterally therefrom, a toothed rack carried by the arm and extending downwardly across and having toothed connection with said pinion whereby downward movement of the auxiliary grate will efiect turning of the pinion by the rack to effect the opening of the valve, an auxiliary control valve in said fuel line between the main valve and burner head and including a rotary plug having a fully opened and a partially opened position and having a stem, a finger carried by the auxiliary valve stem and extending therefrom at an angle to the vertical, a laterally and upwardly extending finger carried by said rack bar and having its upper end arranged for engagement with the underside of said first finger to move the same upwardly upon upward movement of the rack bar to turn the auxiliary valve stem to the fully opened position of such valve, and manually operable means for turning the auxiliary valve stem to the partially opened position of such valve when the rack carried finger is lowered from the auxiliary valve stem carried finger.

RALPH C. BRIDGEMAN. 

